Aerial software images helps police

Software gives GR bird's-eye view

Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.— With agility that Spider-Man would envy, City Assessor Glenn Beekman drags a virtual tape measure across a digital image of one wing of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. It reads "59.95 feet."

"We've got the entire city plotted like this," said Beekman, who zips his cursor up the side of the hotel facing Monroe Avenue to show it's 126.68 feet tall.